Osage language

Osage
𐓏𐒰𐓓𐒰𐓓𐒷 𐒻𐒷‎ Wažáže ie
Native to	United States
Region	Oklahoma
Ethnicity	Osage
Extinct	2005, with the death of Lucille Robedeaux
Revival	As of 2009, 15-20 L2 speakers, ongoing revival program
Language family	Siouan Western Siouan Mississippi Valley Dhegihan Kansa–Osage Osage
Writing system	Latin (Osage alphabet), Osage script
Language codes
ISO 639-2	osa
ISO 639-3	osa
Linguist List	qlc Kansa-Osage
Glottolog	osag1243
ELP	Osage
Map showing the distribution of Oklahoma Indian Languages
Osage is classified as Critically Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

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Osage (/oʊˈseɪdʒ, ˈoʊseɪdʒ/;^[1] Osage: 𐓏𐒰𐓓𐒰𐓓𐒷 𐒻𐒷‎ Wažáže ie) is a Siouan language that is spoken by the people of the Osage Nation in northern Oklahoma. Their original territory was in the present-day Ohio River Valley, which they shared with other Siouan language nations. Slowly they migrated to present-day Missouri and Kansas areas (see Dhegihan migration), but they were gradually pushed west by pressure from invading colonial forces and settlement by other displaced Native American nations.

Osage has an inventory of sounds very similar to that of Dakota, also a Siouan language, plus vowel length, preaspirated obstruents and an interdental fricative (like "th" in English "then"). In contrast to Dakota, phonemically aspirated obstruents appear phonetically as affricates, and the high back vowel *u has been fronted to [y].

Osage is written primarily with two systems: one using the Latin script with diacritics, and another derived Osage script created in 2006.^[2] Osage is among the few indigenous languages in the United States that has developed its own writing system.